There’s been some confusion about the sub-headline that reads: “6 Top Fundraisers” with folks thinking that the story was our list of the 6 best or biggest fundraisers.  That wasn’t it, and we apologize if the wording there led anyone down a wrong path.

The issue has a ton of great stuff but is definitely not our list of best or biggest.  It’s really a look at 6 fairly common fundraisers (out of dozens — several more popular than these 6) with some advice about the best practices and potential pitfalls of the 6.  If you’re looking for a comprehensive listing of fundraising options, our online Fundraising Yellow Pages site is a great place to start.

And if you’ve followed our editorial stuff for a while, you know that we cover all kinds of fundraisers from all kinds of angles every year. Stay tuned….

This week I’m particularly excited about a change we made to how search works. Yes, an odd thing to be excited about, but I really think our new search page will make it MUCH easier to find exactly what you’re looking for.

In the old search, you entered your search term and got a whole bunch of results from all over our site. Now, it’s broken down into categories: Articles & Programs, Message Boards, and File Exchange.

Looking for sample PTO bylaws? Search the File Exchange.

Need some advice about bylaws? Search the Message Boards.

Want to read everything our experts have written about parent group bylaws? Search Articles & Programs.

You might not be as excited about this new feature as I am, but I hope you find it useful. Enter any search term in the box in the top right corner of our site and take our new site search for a spin!

(and of course if there is something you can’t find on our site email me directly at klagden@ptotoday.com)

What Every Secretary Should Know

What Does a Vice President Do

A few other sections that are useful for new board members (and those you’re encouraging to join the board!)

Officers & Board

President

Secretary

Treasurer

Vice President

As the school year draws to a close, parent groups will be electing new officers and existing leaders will be
deciding whether to go another round. How do you decide when it’s time to retire?

Would love to hear what folks think about this. Please add a comment and let us know what you think!

Q: What can/should we do about the fact that involvement at the middle school wanes?
A: The wane here is typical-not uncommon. Teachers don’t need parents “hands-on” etc. in the classroom, (kids don’t want ‘em hanging around either!) Involvement here tends to be more event focused, i.e. helping out at talent shows, jogathons, chaperoning dances, open gym nights, etc. Competition typed events work great here too, i.e. trivia nights, spelling bees, basketball game/shootouts etc. When planning teams, consider holding teams of students to participate AGAINST their parents. (They love to be on a team with their friends at this age instead of being teamed up WITH their parents. They are just so like, OMG, uncool. ; p )

Q: We have one parent (i.e. steamroller type) who tries to take over every committee and goes right to the principal (overstepping PTO) to make changes to our activities /plans without our knowledge. How do we address this?
A: I suggested the two leaders first sit down with principal and then the steamroller. Need to chat with principal about how your group is trying to be more orderly/structured and that it has procedures in place for chairs and volunteers and no one should side step PTO board. Tell her that you would appreciate that parents come to the board with ideas/proposals for PTO related activities. Process should be that all PTO events and programs are put on an agenda, voted, and approved. Things should not be changed haphazardly after they are voted on.
Also, the steamroller needs to be put in her place. Stand up to her and make sure she’s following documented procedures. Let her know you would LOVE her help; you just want to make sure she’s going through the right channels so that help can be put to the best possible use.

Q: How do we get teachers to come to our events/become more involved in our PTO?
A: Teacher’s job is to teach, job of parent group leaders is to provide support to make that teaching environment a positive one. Also, don’t take it personally, the 800+ kids at school are all very cute, but frankly by 2:00 p.m. the teachers have seen enough of them. (LOL)
It’s important to understand that they have other essential/more important things (family/kids/a life!) to deal with outside the school. They might not want to come to a book fair, or spaghetti night or some other PTO fun filled night just for that reason. Also, some teachers fear that parents will hunt them down and want to talk shop (so why did Johnny get an F last month on that test??)
If they show up for an event count your blessings, but don’t hold it against them if they don’t.
Other things that might help them to show up to at least one event during the year: put individual/personalized invitations to the event in their mailbox (versus the collective “Attention Teachers! Come One Come All” flyer posted on the copier room wall!)
Also, if you really really have to have their help for an event, recruiting teachers is not unlike recruiting parent volunteers…. You just need to ask for SPECIFIC help based on their skills/background, i.e. hello Mrs Smith (art teacher), can you help us make a back drop for the talent show? Hello, Mr. Smith (gym teacher) can you help us recruit some teachers to play basketball against the kids at our Get Movin’ night?
You get the picture…

If you’re attending the Chicago or Denver show be sure to stop by and see Patty…she’s the one in the white coat

I hope the gang in the pic below are feeling strong. Conference tote bags always end up jammed with information and samples. Lots of stuff to take back and discuss with the whole group.

And of course the entertainment is always fun. Here a couple of Harlem Wizards get ready to show what they can do.

Two more shows to go this year – Chicago and Denver. If you’re attending be sure to stop by the PTO Today booth and say hi!

Yep, another sampling offer to add even more excitement and fun to one of your upcoming events. This time it’s Tide and participating groups will receive free samples to distribute to parents at an event. Could be a nice tie-in with your spring carnival, field day, BBQ, or any other event involving sticky fingers, grass, mud, or all of the above! Don’t worry, ending up with muddy, dirty kids isn’t required to participate

This particular Tide product is so new it just hit the store shelves in February! And we’re told it has Dawn in it to help with those pesky stains.

Couple things to note:

• You need to have an event scheduled between early April and early June.
• You’ll receive 192 free samples along with “thank you” message cards and notes that you can distribute to parents attending your event.
• Limited number of samples available so participation is on a first come first served basis.

Lots more info and details on how to sign up here – ptotoday.com/tide

“Fun-filled assemblies are common motivational tools for school fundraisers, but when they’re held to reward students, there is often disagreement about who gets to attend. Should reward assemblies be limited only to students who made sales, or should everyone be allowed to join the fun?

What do you think? How does your school handle this situation? Please add a comment below and share your thoughts.

Amongst other things, you’ll notice it has a new look and the navigation at the top has changed. There are hundreds of pages on our website so we’ve tried to organize everything into sections that make it easy to find articles, tools, resources, etc. If you scroll to the bottom you’ll see all the main sections listed – so from any page it’s one click to help on any topic.

Of course when anything changes it can take a few minutes to find your way around. We put together this page to help outline what’s new on the site – http://www.ptotoday.com/whats-new-at-pto-today-website. We’re to help as well. If there’s something you can’t find please post a comment below, call our customer care team at 800-644-3561 x. 208, or email me.

And of course we want to know what you think! We’ll be continuing to refine and enhance the site so let us know what you think and what you’d like to see us add or change.

This is only a partial view of the screen as its tricky to show it all in a small image but hopefully gives you an idea. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Design – the site does have a sleek new look but it’s much more than just a facelift. All the articles, tools, programs, etc. are organized in a much more intuitive way (at least we think so!). We’ve set up 20+ sections that have all the ways we can help on that particular topic. If you squint a little (at the image above) you might be able to see that we’ve listed the most popular sections under “Articles & Insight” on the main navigation bar at the top of the screen.
• Expertise – the website will continue to feature help and insight from our team of PTO Today experts, but it will also have lots of ways for everyone to share their own experiences. You can rate articles, add comments, swap documents, jump into discussions on the blog and message boards, etc. Lots of neat ways to share and learn.
• Yellow pages has been renamed ‘Product/Service Directory’. The name isn’t quite as snappy but explains this very useful resource a bit better we think.
• This blog and the file exchange have been up for a few weeks but it’s worth mentioning them again. The file exchange in particular has been helping lots of folks share and swap documents and files. Definitely worth checking out.

Of course there are a bunch of other smaller details but we have to save a few surprises for Thursday when we make the switch to the new website.
To help ease the transition we’ll set up a “What’s new on the website” page and it will go into more detail. And of course all our customer care folks will be ready to answer your questions if there’s anything you can’t find!

Overall you should find it much easier to find all kinds of help for all types of challenges. At least that’s our goal!